Goal 3 – Access
Improving Access to Affordable, Healthy, and Culturally-Relevant Food
While increased grocery bills tell part of the story, the cost of food is built from inputs at every stage of the supply chain. Barriers to access can also include travel distances, awareness of retail options, and availability of fresh, healthy, culturally, and dietarily appropriate options. Resident focus groups reinforced these themes: food purchasing is difficult for people with limited transportation and the lack of grocery stores in some neighborhoods results in the need to travel to multiple stores to get specific products. In a time with declining federal support for hunger prevention, these forces continue to drive more people to participate in emergency food.
Improving access can involve addressing the costs of food production and the proximity of retail locations that offer the food people need. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw rapid innovation to create online tools to organize food delivery, change policy, and invest in community food access. While those resources are no longer available, this response demonstrated that it is possible to move the needle on food insecurity if the public rallies behind the solutions needed to do so.
It is also important to tie hunger prevention strategies to other social initiatives. One emerging strategy is the integration of “Food as Medicine” approaches, where medically-tailored meals and fruit and vegetable prescriptions are treated as essential healthcare that can lower costs and prevent illness. Other efforts can make the connection between preventing hunger and a strong economy with a productive workforce; emergency preparedness; and public health, security, and safety.
Strategies
1. Reduce Barriers to Healthy Food in Systemically-Excluded Communities
Increasing access to healthy food will require solutions tailored for specific neighborhoods and communities. People living in areas that have greater access to affordable options will be able to prioritize nutrition more than those living in places where fresh and healthy food options are not present. Achieving greater access will lower costs associated with poor health, increase the productivity and wellbeing of our workforce, and improve quality of life for the people of Dane County amid the current cost of living crisis.
Actions
- Support increased investment and technical support for local programs that enhance retailer opportunities to procure and sell healthy food.
- Increase SNAP (FoodShare) and WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) availability at retailers of all sizes to bring down costs and encourage stocking of the key items needed for a healthy diet.
- Provide technical support to emergency food providers that are interested in improving healthy options.
- Increase access to growing space and initial costs like seeds/starts, soil, and containers or raised beds that can help households grow some of their own food at home or in the community.
- Improve options to address transportation barriers, such as taxi/ride-share vouchers, bulk distributions, neighborhood-based refrigerated storage lockers, grocery delivery, and mobile sales.
- Invest in expanded Food as Medicine programs at area healthy care systems.
2. Reduce the Costs of Producing and Selling Local Food
The largest driver of food costs are the labor and other inputs needed to produce food. Local investment in farm innovation and technology to reduce input costs will increase productivity, which can stabilize food costs and even create opportunities for local producers to gain more market share as they are able to meet institutional demands. There are also costs associated with selling food that get passed onto consumers, including costs of licensure or inspection, transportation, and more. Addressing these inputs will bring down food prices and increase access for everyone.
Actions
- Explore ways to reduce costs for first-time business owners or scale fees based on projected revenues.
- Offset the cost of labor for small farm and food businesses by investing in social safety nets like affordable farmworker housing, affordable childcare, or healthcare options.
3. Expand Child Nutrition Initiatives
The meals served to children at schools and daycares increase household food security by offsetting the demands of feeding children at home. Research shows that when children are well fed, they will score higher in academic testing, improve mental health, and reduce negative behaviors. Nutrition is critical during early developmental windows and ensuring children have access to good nutrition during these periods can help them meet learning milestones. Childhood also presents an opportunity to introduce new foods and create lifelong habits around food and nutrition. Expanding preference alongside nutrition education can encourage families to try regional foods and increase demand for those products.
Actions
- Align school nutrition programs with larger public health goals of food security and dietary/chronic disease prevention while also connecting to benefits like behavior and learning.
- Invest in nutrition education at schools and community centers to replace resources lost with the recent elimination of SNAP-Education/FoodWIse.
- Support districts in maximizing the number of students who can access free and reduced-price breakfasts and lunches.
- Increase participation in nutrition programs during out-of-school periods like afterschool and summer.
- Develop state expansions of child nutrition programs such as increased school meal reimbursements or universally-free meals.
4. Increase Access to Federal Nutrition Programs
Federal nutrition programs, including SNAP (FoodShare), WIC, senior nutrition programs, and more serve to support various segments of the population to buy the food they need. While eligibility criteria and benefit amounts are controlled by the federal government, the state and county agencies that manage cases in Dane County can continue to explore ways to improve user experiences. Improving nutrition program participation may also be possible by addressing common barriers such as lack of awareness of eligibility, insufficient benefit amounts, individual stigma around using public benefits, or the inability to participate due eligibility restrictions.
Actions
- Explore state submission of federal waivers that could reduce barriers to application, participation, or program complexity.
- Increase support for nutrition incentives that can enhance the buying power of individuals using SNAP and other programs, such as Double Dollars.
- Expand use of Senior Farmers’ Market Voucher and WIC Farmers’ Market Voucher programs.
- Increase education efforts around public benefits and where they can be used.
- Increase the number of vendors across the county that accept different forms of benefit currency, including SNAP and WIC.
5. Increase Skills for Personal Food Production, Preparation, and Preservation
Historically, many families have looked to offset or reduce costs by growing their own food, prioritizing bulk cooking from whole ingredients, and using preservation methods to limit spoilage and waste. Focus group input reflected a desire for places to grow food, while 45% of survey respondents were interested in education on this topic and 49% expressed interest in access to community garden space. Individual control over one’s food needs can provide a level of security for families during the growing season. Unfortunately these opportunities are time intensive and not always a viable solution for some families.
Actions
- Expand garden locations and programming at food pantries, community centers, and schools.
- Create educational pathways to learn food production, culinary, and food preservation skills.
- Subsidize costs of household equipment for students and families that have completed training.